Let's do SXSW (even if we can't go)

Photography news that's fit to blog (this week)
by Kerry Raminiak

Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to this week’s industry insight blog. If you are new to reading the ExpressDigital dialog, here’s how it goes: We start off with a educational spotlight of a topic we have been requested to dig up (often by the comments section). After that, we post four or five hot industry topics that have come from wire sources. What’s left is weekly reading you can subscribe to (via RSS or simply watching for post announcements via Twitter) that gives you a little ammunition for fun projects or ice breaking topics for you to illustrate how in the know you are. Please enjoy -- if you are here, this is for you!

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This week’s spotlight is on: Concert Photography
Let’s pretend that we can all attend and shoot SXSW this week with this fun project

Have you defrosted yet? The weather is Austin these past couple of days has been amazing which makes us sad to hear about all the cold still in the north east U.S. of A. I suppose it all comes with a trade-off, in a strange sense in that, with the great weather (finally!) comes 2 million or so tourists to our fare city to celebrate the South By Southwest film, interactive and music festivals.

Now, don’t get me wrong, working and living in Austin has its perks. A lot of perks. But if you believe in schadenfreude, I think it would please you to read that those of us with desk jobs and little vacation time in Austin, Texas, this time of year, can only be a part of SXSW by avoiding the extra traffic, watching the local news and feeling the vibrations in our desks this upcoming Thursday during the first round of sound-checks and live performances just yards away.

To make me feel better, behind my little desk, I went on the hunt for great tips and tutorials on how to take great concert shots. I have (not so) secret hopes that with some extra skills to put on my resume, my boss would let me sneak out early this week to take some pictures and call it “work.”

So, without further ado, here are some pretty useful tips I found online on taking great concert shots. (Note: The very best and most elaborate article has been written by Steve Mirarchi and published on Photo.net. Haje Jan Kamps also writes on the topic successfully on Photocritic.org.)

• Getting credentials is tough but not impossible. Building a solid portfolio of 20 perfect concert shots is often enough for you to contact a national or local media outlet and let them know of your availability and time. Your beginners portfolio does not need to be of the super famous, by the way, especially if you are asking for a credential in exchange for free work (which is one tactic described here on how to get started developing your portfolio).
  
  
• Remember the rules! No flash photography! You will only be able to shoot the first three songs! Show security will ultimately dictate your success (so try to get in good)! Also remember that you are heavily outnumbered by paying fans that want to watch the show, not see the back of your head.
  
  
• Your equipment is key. Using a compact point and shoot will make you look foolish and the quality of the photos will be bad. Because you have only ten minutes to pull this off be sure to know how to quickly swap lenses so that you can take key, stage and close ups. When you can perfect the pace, you should practice doing this all in very low light as well.
  
  
• Think about technique, especially when considering your equipment. There’s nothing wrong with practicing with your meter reading and ISO ratings. Mirarchi discusses the implications of your settings to what types of shots you can take in his article, and if you are ready to take your concert photography to the “next level” you will have to do your homework.
  
  
• Never forget concert images are not only the hardest to get they most often go un-rewarded. But that’s not to discourage you, it’s to remind you that despite how horrible it can be, its still a fantasy and favorite line of work for many commercial photographers (… because it's awesome and fun).

Of course, there is inspiration out there. A quick Google search would point you in the right direction. I found Andrew Kendall’s site to be well designed with brilliant photography.

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More photography goodies (numbered for my sanity, but ranked in no particular order):

1. The FBI's most wanted list is 60 years old yesterday. Talk about the power of pictures! 94% of the 494 people who have appeared on the list have been caught or located.

2. Congrats go out to many as Canon USA gives us a very nice shout-out in their press release of their new studio software solution. As they put it, the "simple-to-learn software solution is made possible by combining ExpressDigital's technology and workflow along with Canon's prove image processing expertise."

3. WPPI has come and gone. To the left is a picture of the Print Comp winner's exhibition. Although we did not exhibit during the tradeshow our team still had a great time meeting many PhotoReflect.com users with nothing but nice things to say. And while there is nothing particularly special to report, other than Canon's release, mentioned above, it was, as always a great show to hobnob and enjoy Vegas with other photogs.

4. Photo District News has a lovely article on the treasure of mentorship. They called on their readership to nominate their mentors and the advice given during their time with these generous and kind people. Seven stories were selected from this piece and while it's a bit of a long read, there are tricks and tips contained within for anyone that has ever thought about sucking it up and asking someone to share their expertise.

5. And here's a quick head's up, our monthly newsletter is back in action this week (Wednesday) with a feature on improving your SEO and quick tips on how the internet can help your photography business. Newsletter subscribers get exclusive access to download PDFs of the sessions I conducted at PMA in Anaheim (during the school and sports photography class sessions). All are welcome to subscribe to the newsletter by clicking the link and following the instructions (you will need to click a link in an email verifying your address).